Review - Season 2, Episode 19: Lacey - "A Change of Heart"

No…you can’t tell
what’s in a person’s heart until you truly know them.
If their cursed self and their fairy tale self are both them
then what does this say about Belle’s new persona Lacey. Was Belle, had she not
been locked away in Regina’s asylum, destined to be Lacey or was this new twist
purely at the hands of Regina’s whimsicality?
Can Belle ever return to her old self, the kind-hearted princess we all
love? And what of Mr. Gold? Is the fate of his happily ever after, that being
ridding himself of the Dark One, sealed if Lacey brings out his dark side? Will
Belle ever be “both” again—foremost Belle with an inner Lacey?All questions that ring about at the close of this episode.
But let’s look at what went down.Belle, a recovering amnesic patient, is ready to remember.
Mr. Gold comes to her rescue, offering her the aid she needs but in return that
she help bring out his softer side. Belle, or whoever she is, agrees. Mr. Gold
expedites her hospital leave. However, whilst he is out of the room, Mayor Regina Mills
enters. She may come across as thoughtful, but her thoughts are solely focused
on her. Whipping up a little bit of magic, she brainwashes Belle into
“remembering” who she was…that being a scantily clad pool-table pro with a taste for alcohol and
bad boys. Mr. Gold is furious. How dare Regina do such a thing? How will
he ever be good without kind-hearted Belle? This skank will only bring about
what he’s trying to suppress. Worse yet, Belle…I mean, Lacey…wants nothing to
do with the old crippled man.However, after some quick advice from Charming—show her the
man she fell in love with—Mr. Gold approaches Lacey and asks her on a date.Back in Fairy Tale Land Belle has just been captured by
Rumplestiltskin and her homesick tears are driving Rumplestiltskin crazy. His
tirade, er, pep talk, is interrupted by a clang upstairs. Rumplestiltskin and
Belle go running toward the noise. A thief—a hooded thief—is attempting to
steal a magic wand. Rumplestiltskin starts the man who tries to kill the imp
with his bow. His bow, you should note, never misses its mark. Sound familiar?
Snow White was going to use that weapon to kill the Evil Queen. Anyway, Rumplestiltskin is not easily killed. The man tries
to run, but Rumplestiltskin captures him and locks him away. Later, Belle finds
the man bound and bleeding. She frees him and wishes him luck.Rumplestiltskin is angered by her betrayal. The man not only
escaped but he got away with the wand. Rumplestiltskin can’t let him get away.
No problem, he hunt the man down and kill him with his own bow and arrow that
can’t miss.Rumplestiltskin and Belle, who is forced to tag along and
watch the killing, come across the Sheriff of Nottingham, who is just as
angered by the thieving man who goes by the name Robin Hood. The sheriff points
Rumplestiltskin in Robin Hood’s direction—the Sherwood Forest.Rumplestiltskin and Belle spot Robin Hood in the woods, but
he’s not alone. In a wagon is a sick, pregnant woman. Robin Hood uses the wand
to heal the woman, an act kind enough to spur Belle into action. Using her words, she convinces Rumplestiltskin to let the
man go. Can’t he see the good he was doing with the magic?Not one to admit his wrongs, Rumplestiltskin fires the arrow
at the wagon, purposefully missing the young couple, but successfully scaring
them off.Belle is touched. Maybe Rumplestiltskin isn’t such a beast
after all. Back in Storybrooke, Mr. Gold and Lacey are on their date.
All of Belle’s favorites are a complete bore to Lacey. Hamburgers…yuck. Tea…no
way. More like white wine by the glassful. And while Mr. Gold may seem like a
nice guy, there’s another man who’s caught her eye. Slipping out the back after
a drink spills on her dress, Mr. Gold finds Belle/Lacey making out with a
familiar face—the Sheriff of Nottingham. Mr. Gold scares the man off and confronts Lacey, but Lacey
won’t back down. She wanted to be with that man, not Mr. Gold. Mr. Gold is furious and frustrated. Lacey is wearing him
out. He wants his beloved back. So he takes it out on the Sheriff of
Nottingham, taking his tongue so he can’t scream, and begins to beat him up. Lacey sees Mr. Gold and runs up to him. Mr. Gold is at first
embarrassed, but when Lacey expresses fascination in this new side of Mr. Gold,
an evil gleam enters the man’s eyes. To win Belle’s heart he must give in to
his dark side? Then so be it! And proceeds to beat the Sheriff in the presence
of a beautiful audience. In other parts of Storybrooke, Mary Margaret and David
decide to reveal to Emma their newest agricultural project. Hidden from view
much like Hook’s Jolly Roger, the bean field is coming along nicely. Rows and
rows of magic beans with the capability of transporting the Charmings back
home. Emma’s not so sure she wants to leave Storybrooke. After
all, that is the only world she’s known. Sure, she’s from Fairy Tale Land, but
could she live there forever? And Regina’s become suspicious of the dwarves’ and Prince
Charming’s comings and goings decides to track their movements with a little
magical GPS. She finds the bean field. What will this mean for the lives she
controls in Storybrooke? Will Regina get power back? Will she destroy the
beans? Or will she steal them for her own use? Even more, Greg and Tamara have their own secrets. Yeah,
yeah, they’re having an affair that Neal (Tamara’s fiancé) is unaware of, but
more than that they’re searching for Greg’s father. Regina claims Greg’s father
is not in Storybrooke, but Greg refuses to believe the Evil Queen. With
Tamara’s help and a certain “package” she has in her possession, they are sure
to find some answers. In the cover of darkness, Tamara brings in her “package.” In
the back of a trailer is Captain Hook, bound and held hostage by Once Upon a Time’s newest, unstable
villains. Burning Questions:
1) Was Belle, had she not been locked away in
Regina’s asylum, destined to be Lacey or was this new twist purely at the hands
of Regina’s whimsicality?
2)
Can Belle ever return to her old self, the
kind-hearted princess we all love? Will Belle ever be “both” again—foremost
Belle with an inner Lacey?
3) Is the fate of Mr. Gold’s happily ever after,
that being ridding himself of the Dark One, sealed if Lacey reinforces his dark
side?
4) What will happen now that Regina knows about the
magic beans?
5) What is Greg and Tamara up to? How can Hook help
them?
6) Will the Charmings be heading to Fairy Tale
Land? What about the Charming extended family—Mr. Gold, Bae, etc.? Who will
stay, who will go?
7) Where was Robin Hood in Storybrooke? Or is he
there at all?
~ Taryn

Careful dearie. A queen striding among the peasants might not like what she hears. In Fairy Tale Land, Queen Regina is horrified at the thought of her subjects, gained through the death of their beloved King Leopold, hating her. They believe she is evil. And what’s worse, they have banded together to protect the sniveling maiden, Snow White, their princess. What they don’t know is the harm she’s done—at least towards Regina. Under the cloak of darkness, Regina rounds up the village to try and track down Snow White who has eluded the cowardly huntsman and now hides in the woods like a bandit. But the villagers won’t hand her over. Kill them all, she declares. If they won’t turn her in then they can die for treason of the royal throne. Later, licking her wounds from her recent brush with the peasants, Regina is in the company of the one and only Rumplestiltskin. He, of course, offers her advice—for a price: all trade needs to be cut off from King George. Why? It doesn’t concern her. Does she, or does she not, want his help? Regina agrees to his price. In exchange, Rumplestiltskin agrees to cloak Regina in the body of a peasant girl. In this new form, Regina can come and go as she pleases and hear all the awful words her subjects are saying about her. However, she will be without magic. The only way back is to call out Rumplestiltskin’s name. Regina sets out. Do her subjects really think she’s evil? It can’t be so. But in the square, peasants are rallied around an effigy of the queen. On her chest is a paper heart. Dare anyone throw a dart at the Queen’s heart? Anyone? One young man steps to the plate, aims his dart, and lands a bulls-eye. Regina, horrified, tries to stop the madness. This is treason. How dare they think so ill of their Queen? Because she’s evil! Regina, in disguise, is arrested for her outbursts. Before she can be taken, Regina yells out the name Rumplestiltskin. But the imp does not appear. Instead, the very woman Regina vows to kill steps to Regina’s aid, knocking down guards and dragging Regina to safety. In the woods, Snow White cares for Regina, surprising the queen with her resourcefulness. Subsequently, Snow White confides in Regina, who is in disguise, about a woman who came to Snow’s rescue many years ago. Metaphorically, that woman is gone, but Snow hopes not forever. Regina recovers enough to continue on their journey. Along the way, Snow also confesses that she thinks that Regina is not as evil as everyone thinks…that there is hope for her to turn good again. The good is in there somewhere because she’s seen it. Snow’s story is cut short when the two women come across the dead villagers from the night before. Snow White, enraged, takes back her last kind words. No. If this is what is in Queen Regina’s heart then, truly, there is no good in the Evil Queen! But…but what about that story? Regina saved her once, was that not good? Those very words alert Snow White that the woman in her company is none other than the queen herself. She doesn’t know how, but she is, for Snow White had not divulged her long-ago rescuer’s name. Regina comes clean, but when it becomes clear that Snow White is out for her blood, Regina flees. Back in her castle, Regina accepts that she is who the people think she is. The good queen is dead. Long live the Evil Queen! Post curse in Storybrooke where magic is present, Greg and Tamara are plotting their evil revenge. They have Hook, who believes he has killed Rumplestiltskin. However, be that not the case, Greg and Tamara use that as leverage to gain Hook’s alliance. All he needs to do is find out where Greg’s father is—where Regina is keeping him. Then, they can let him loose to re-kill Rumplestiltskin. Meanwhile, the royal family prepares to leave Storybrooke behind. They have the magic beans that can transport them to their world. However, Mary Margaret is in a bind. Should they really leave Regina behind? After all, she is Henry’s mother…of a kind. Prince Charming won’t allow such talk. The only other option, should they take her along, is lock her up in Rumplestiltskin’s cell indefinitely. Regina, using her shape shifting skills, overhears the conversation. A jail cell? Oh, no they won’t! Two can play that game. She heads to the bean field and destroys the magic beans, saving one for herself. In the park, Regina finds Henry filling a bird feeder. She gets his attention and tries to earn him back to her side, pointing out all the flaws the Charmings have. When that doesn’t convince him, Regina proceeds to tell him about a fail-safe to the curse. It’s like a redo button. The only catch is that once it’s triggered, Storybrooke will disappear and all of its citizens will be destroyed—killed, if you will. Henry is appalled. Just when she’d been trying to be good, just when he’d about given her a second change she does something like this. She really is the Evil Queen! Angered by his treachery—by taking Mary Margaret’s, Emma’s, and David’s sides again—Regina tells Henry that it doesn’t matter what he thinks about this. She’s going to do it and he won’t remember any of this conversation. Waving a hand over his face, she erases Henry’s memory of their talk. Henry smiles forgetfully at her and proceeds to show off his bird feeder. Regina smiles at the joy in Henry’s voice as he shares his creation with her. Meanwhile, Emma and Henry are teamed up again in Operation Praying Mantis to find evidence against Tamara, the alleged “she” in August’s warning. Emma believes that Tamara is not who she says she is and Neal should be warned. Neal doesn’t believe Emma, but allows her to search their room. When they don’t find anything, Emma and Henry leave…prepared to search high and low for their cause! Later, in Regina’s office, Hook lets himself in. Quickly explaining his recent absents and goings-on, he earns Regina’s confidence with a few silver-tongued words, and becomes Regina’s cohort in extracting a valuable gem—the fail-safe to the curse. It’s hidden in a safe place beneath the library. In the depths of the library, Regina tells Hook her plan to retrieve the item. All Hook must do is be a distraction. Thusly, she shoves him over the edge and into the dark pit where Maleficent—who has morphed into a zombie-ish creature—lives. While Maleficent chases Hook around, Regina calming walks over to Snow White’s dusty glass coffin, breaks a section of the glass and pulls out a bag with the gem. Regina rides the elevator to library’s main floor, leaving Hook for dead, only to find him leaning smugly against the circulation desk, fully intact. How? How did he survive? Well, you see, before Regina and Hook descended into the depths, Hook cleverly tricked Regina to putting on a wristband—the same one used when climbing the beanstalk. That wristband had been manipulated by Greg and Tamara to block any magic from exited Regina’s body. They saved him and now, they can torture her until she confesses to Greg’s father’s location. Can Regina survive what they have in store for her and hold on to a 28 year secret?!Burning Questions: 1) Will Greg and Tamara accidently set off the fail-safe to the curse? 2) Will Emma find enough evidence to pin Tamara to the wall? Will Neal stand behind Emma on this? 3) What is going to happen to Storybrooke?! 4) What will happen to Regina? Where is Greg’s father? Has he really disappeared or really locked up somewhere and at Regina’s mercy? 5) Is anyone else as anxious about the Season 2 finale! What’s going to happen? Will everyone live? What will be destroyed? ~ Taryn

Monday, May 6, 2013

Review - Season 2, Episode 21: Second Star to the Right - "Finding Neverland"

We’re not here to
steal magic. We’re here to destroy it.
Baelfire only wanted the best for his father, who was cursed
to be the Dark One for eternity. By transporting them to another land, one
without magic, the Dark One would be forced to give up his powers. But when the
plan went awry, and Rumplestiltskin betrayed his son, Baelfire was left to
enter the journey alone as his fingers slipped from his father’s grasp and he
fell through the portal.
From there, Bae landed in London, England just outside the
home of Wendy Darling—yep, from Peter Pan.
Starved, Bae broke into the Darling’s house and spied freshly baked bread. He’d
barely gotten through one bite before Wendy interrupted him, threating him with
a statuette. However, seeing that he wasn’t robbing them and he only wanted
food, Wendy offered him more. Furthermore,
she decided to house him, hiding him away in a cubby hole inside her bedroom
that she shared with her two younger brothers.
It wasn’t long, just a few weeks, that Wendy’s parents
discovered Bae. Bae confessed that he was an orphan. His mother had died and
his father…well…he was dead, too. Figuratively, not literally, but why bring in
technicalities. The Darlings felt sorry for Bae and told him that their home
was open to him for as long as he liked.
One night, Wendy stood stargazing at her window. She woke
Bae up, nearly bursting to tell someone a deep secret. Bae came to the window.
In hushed tones, Wendy declared that she had seen this shadow, although there
wasn’t a body. This shadow had come to the window and shown her many wonderful
things…so many wonderful things because it had magic. Oh, isn’t magic
wonderful, Bae?
Horrified by Wendy’s fascination with magic, the very cause
of his pain, Bae tries to talk her out of her captivation. But Wendy does not
heed his words. She tells him she hopes the shadow will come back and take her
to this land that he is from. A land called Neverland.
Sure enough, the Shadow comes back and lures Wendy into his
clutches. She tries to comfort Bae as she flies away.
Worried about Wendy, Bae stays guard. The next morning,
Wendy returns, but the joy she had about Neverland had faded from her face. It
was replaced by sorrow. Wendy confesses that the Shadow had taken her to
Neverland. There were mermaids and fairies and lost boys. It was the lost boys
that brought her attention to Neverland’s greatest weakness. Although it was
filled with magic, this world was named Neverland because no one ever returns
from it. Once the Shadow claims someone, they don’t come back.
How did she escape then? The Shadow didn’t want her. He wanted
a boy…one of her brothers. He was coming back tonight to take one with him.
Bae and Wendy barricade the window and light candles to ward
off the Shadow. But when it comes to claim the brother, it breaks down the
barrier. Before the Shadow can take a brother, Bae steps into his place, taken
far away, into the night, to the land of no return—Neverland.
Speeding over the water, Bae breaks from the Shadow’s grasp
and lands in the water, only to be rescued by the one and only Captain Hook.
Welcome aboard the Jolly Roger, Baelfire!
In Storybrooke, Emma continues her hunt for Tamara and Greg.
When Regina and her magic beans turn up missing, Emma is even more suspicious.
Going to Neal, she tries to convince him that Tamara is lying to him about her
whereabouts.
In order to get Emma off his back, Neal takes Emma to the
beach where Tamara should not be because she is supposed to be running in the
woods. Yet Tamara turns up, smiling and trying to make Emma feel at ease.
Emma’s not satisfied and decides to turn to Mr. Gold for
help to find Regina.
Mary Margaret and David go to Mr. Gold, who gives them a
potion that will link Mary Margaret and Regina together, just long enough to
find her. With a teardrop from Regina and a tear from Mary Margaret, Mary
Margaret uses an eyedropper to place the mixed tears in her eye.
Immediately Mary Margaret senses Regina and her pain. Regina
is locked away in Storybrooke’s cannery and linked to high voltage electrical
currents that Greg Mendell is using to force out the truth of his father’s
whereabouts. Regina, despite the pain, isn’t budging.
Mary Margaret tells Emma what she saw/felt. Emma uses the
clues, leading her and Neal to the Cannery. Inside, she finds the place empty.
Meeting up with her father and mother, the four search the spacious building. While
they can’t see the culprits, Tamara, via security camera, spots the trespassers
and races to divert them.
Greg, pressured for time, forces more voltage upon Regina,
nearly to the extent of killing her. Regina finally gives in and confesses that
she murdered his father just after little Owen/Greg had left town. She buried the
body at their old campsite.
Angered, Greg sends several, nearly fatal, volts of
electricity through Regina before rushing off to the woods.
Emma and Co. split up, sending Mary Margaret and David to
find Regina. Emma and Neal head off Tamara. Tamara shoots Neal, which sends
Emma into a blind rage. Emma gives Tamara some powerful kicks and body slams
before Tamara uses her ultimate weapon, a magic bean.
Tossing the bean to the floor, a whirling portal immediately
opens up, sending Neal and Emma jumping from its range. Emma, hanging on to a
pipe, dangling over the swirling portal, is losing her grip. Neal reaches her
in time and pulls her to safety, but the ground breaks under them.
Neal, not wanting to drag Emma into the portal, choses to
let go, but not before hearing Emma declare her love for him.
Back at Mary Margaret’s, the Charmings get the Blue Fairy to
heal Regina and remove her anti-magic cuff from her wrist. Emma mourns the loss
of Neal and laments about telling Henry.
Regina wakes and is surprised by the Charmings’ kind act of
saving her. But she warns them that they are not safe. Greg and Tamara have the
fail-safe to the curse, which can destroy Storybrooke forever.
What she doesn’t know, is that deep in Storybrooke’s woods,
Greg has discovered his father’s body and Tamara has come to him with some
powerful news…news about what that mysterious gem can do and the fact that
their “home office” has given them the green light to use it.
It’s time to wipe Storybrooke off the map!Burning Questions:
1) First of all, I don’t want Storybrooke to be destroyed.
So if it is, where will everyone go? Can they get back to Fairy Tale Land?
2) Will Greg and Tamara be stopped? Who is in
charge of Greg and Tamara? Who runs their home office? What do they want with destroying
magic?
3) What will be so devastating about next week’s
finale?
4) What will Captain Hook do once he finds out that
Bae is Rumplestiltskin’s son?
5) Is Regina going to turn good (or better) or will
she turn back to her main evil streak?
Tune in next week for Once
Upon a Time’s season 2 finale! ABC, 8/7c.
~ Taryn